"That could cause problems," Thor agrees.

"How so? We can just pick the highest point on the planet and start there," Lucy points out.

Thor shakes his head, "to activate the ward stone in the center of the planet, we need to be at the point closest to the core, not the point furthest away from it."

"How long will it take to activate mars's core?" Amphitrite asks.

"It could take anywhere from two to upwards of six hours." Thor responds.

Amphitrite nods, "So we need at least two teams, with dwarves, sirens, and at least one fey or phoenix at the lowest point; and a second team with fey, dwarves, elves, and dragons at the highest point."

"Why sirens in the lower point," I ask, making sure I have everything down in my notes.

"Sirens are in tune with the water. We can protect the dwarves if the waters rise before they are finished their tasks." Amphitrite replies.

"Makes sense," I nod, adding that tidbit to my notes.

"How are the dragons going to transfer their fauna related hoards?" Lilith directs her question to Stata.

"It would be best to transfer them after the planet can support their life, but that may not be possible for the bugs."

"We have necromancers and demons who deal in the dead who could bring back a dead hoard, if necessary." Luci offers in response, while making a note in her notebook.

Stata nods, "that would be much appreciated."

"It would make sense to bring them in cse something is wrong with the seeds," I point out.

Lilith and Luci both nod in agreement. "We do only have one chance to get this done," Luci points out.

"Not to sound depressing, but this all sounds like it will take a long time. Doesn't this process usually take eons in nature?" I ask.

Amphitrite nods, "If left to nature, it would take eons. But we can speed it along. With enough elves to hasten the process, and Isis on the planet to insure the fauna multiply at an accelerated rate, we can probably have the whole planet terraformed in under a month."

Stolen novel; please report.

"Yes, a month sounds doable," Oberon agrees, "and it will probably take a week to gather the supplies and teams. Maybe more depending on what the transportation team figures out. So we could have everyone evacuated to mars in… six weeks?"

"The wolves won't survive six weeks, and neither will many of our people," Lilith sighs, "we are going to need a temporary holding spot for the everyone moving to mars who can't survive the lack of atmosphere."

"How many is that? If the temperature is stabilized, we a number of races could live in the low oxygen atmosphere. Are there oxygen producing ward stones we can use to make a safe zone for those who need to have an earth like atmosphere?" I ask.

"So, the problem with wards, is you can only layer so many before they have to settle. And then there is a maximum number an area can hold. With the wards in question, turning on the planetary connection to the ley line, and stabilizing the temperature may be the best we can do initially. Once the ley line ward settles, we could have up to three wards on an area, but we risk overloading by adding more wards initially." Thor explains.

"How long does it take a planetary ward to settle?" Oberon asks.

"One thousand years." Thor answers.

"That's unhelpful," Lilith mutters.

"It is what it is," Thor answers, shrugging, "it is a complicated ward. They take as long as they take."

"So we can't have more than one ward on an area for a thousand years while the planetary ward settles?" Oberon clarifies.

"That is what that means," Thor answers, then gets up and plates himself some food, "unless you want to destabilize the planetary ward and lose our connection with the ley line."

"I think we would all prefer not to destabilize a planetary ley line," Stata responds, tone bored.

"So, won't that affect the solar ward stones? Can we have a light ward or focusing ward at the same time as the heat ward?" I point out.

Thor pops a red mushroom with white spots in his mouth, "That is why the light ward needs to be airborne. If the ward is in orbit, we can take the energy that powers it form the atmospheric winds and not the ley line. And light wards are super simple and draw very little power."

"And the wards we would need to make a breathable spot for the resto fo the people aren't?" I ask.

"To make a breathable atmosphere like that, we would need a proximity shield to keep in the oxygen, something that generates the oxygen, a filtration system, and the heat stabilization. It would take a web of three or four sets of wards to actually make a safe place for those needing a human atmosphere." Oberon answers while pouring himself another cup of coffee. "Which means we need to look beyond dwarven tools. They are already stretched think bringing the planet back to life, no offense, Thor."

"None taken. Connecting a planet back to the ley line and making sure it is warm enough for other efforts is already a herculean task."

"Which leaves us with either magic or technology." Lilith says.

"Wouldn't magic also use the ley line?" I ask.

"Depends on the magic," Lilith resplies.

"Most magic pulls from the surrounding environment," Luci answers, "which could be bad for the fledgling ecosystem."

"So, technology is our best bet. Humans haven't come up with a habitat that big yet, it would take a development program and time to design a habitat that can hold that many people."

Just as Oberon finishes talking, Remus bursts through the door. "The humans have decoded the message and are trying to respond. We have it on the TV in the conference room."